The title Ænima is a combination of the words 'anima' (Latin for 'soul' associated with the ideas of "life force" and a term often used by psychologistCarl Jung) and 'enema', the medical procedure.[11]

Music videos were made for "Stinkfist" and "Ænema". Promotional singles were issued for "H." and "Forty-Six & 2".[12] Several of the songs are short segues or interludes that connect to longer songs,[13] pushing the total duration of the CD towards the maximum of around 80 minutes. These segues are "Useful Idiot", "Message to Harry Manback", "Intermission", "Cesaro Summability", and "(-) Ions".

Themes of the album include Egyptian mythology in a seven-pointed star symbolizing Babalon, and sacred geometry in dividing the planet into grids related to chromosomes. The band dedicated the album to Bill Hicks (a comedian who the band felt was going in the same direction as them) and said this album to be partly inspired by him.[14] The inside cover displays art featuring a painting of a disabled patient that shows a resemblance to singer Maynard James Keenan and Bill Hicks depicted as a doctor or "healer" with the line, "Another Dead Hero". Lines from Bill Hicks' standup set, "One Good Drug Story" and "The War on Drugs" are sampled before the song "Third Eye".

Demo versions of the songs "Pushit", "Stinkfist", "Ænema", and "Eulogy" were recorded with Paul D'Amour on bass, before he left the band. These appeared online in early 2007. D'Amour also worked on "H.", as he is credited as a co-songwriter on ASCAP's website.

Speculation has surrounded the song "H." The "meaning" of this song has seldom been detailed by the band, as they do not regularly comment on such things. However on several occasions, specifically on November 23, 1996 during a show at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia, Maynard did grant some insight into the meaning of the song. Speaking to the audience he said, "Any of you ever seen those old Warner Bros. cartoons? Sometimes there's that one where the guy is trying to make a decision and he's got an angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other. Seems pretty obvious, right? The angel is trying to give him good advice while the devil is trying to get him to do what's bad for him. It's not always that simple though. A lot of times they're not really angels or devils but friends giving you advice, looking out for your best interest but not really understanding what's going to be best for you. So it kind of comes down to you. You have to make the decision yourself. This song is called H." The song was discussed live during a few other shows around this time, one example being on February 23, 1997, when Maynard introduced this song by referring to the shoulder angel and devil, and also said it's about a hurtful yet dependent relationship.[16] In an interview Keenan gave in December 1996, he commented, "My son's name is Devo H. That's all I'll say." It is also of note that the song's working title was "Half Empty", as it was introduced during a mini-tour of California by the band in December 1995. In the book, "Teachings of Don Juan, a Yaqui Way of Knowledge", the author refers to a character named H. Keenan.

The track "Useful Idiot" features the sound of the needle skipping at the end of a gramophone record growing louder as the track progresses. The track was set at the end of side 1 of the vinyl versions of Ænima as a joke to fool those who owned the version. The song (on vinyl) not only ends in a locked groove, which requires manual lifting of the needle to end playback, but also continues on the run-in groove of side 2.

"Message to Harry Manback" features calming new-age piano music and the background noises of seagulls while a message from an answering machine plays. The person who leaves the message is reportedly an uninvited Italian houseguest of Keenan's; the guest consumed much of the available food supply and spent much time on the phone. Upon being forced to leave, the guest called "Harry Manback", a pseudonym for Keenan's friend, and launched into a diatribe against him, forming the basis of the message. There was a follow up message that the guest left on the answering machine which became "Message to Harry Manback II", found on Salival.

During 1996 concerts, Maynard told audiences that the song "jimmy" is the sequel to "Prison Sex", and how it's about getting through the abuse.[22] It is preceded by "Intermission", a short organ adaptation of the opening riff of "jimmy".

The fourth, and most controversial segue is the Neue Deutsche Härte style "Die Eier von Satan", functioning as the album's easter egg and as a follow up of sorts to Undertow's hidden track "Disgustipated". It is introduced by a distorted bassline giving way to a heavy industrial guitar, starting at the :23 mark and lasting only ten seconds, playing a single note in Drop C tuning over a reversed drum beat in compound triple meter. It is in the time signature of 4½4 (3 quarter notes + 1 dotted quarter note) and partitioned into bars of 58 and 24 rather than basic triplets in 98. The structure makes the beat feel as if it is going out of time in one measure only to correct itself in the next one, with odd and even seemingly battling one another for supremacy as the tension escalates. The lyrical component of the song is spoken in German by Marko Fox, bass player for ZAUM and SexTapes. He is backed by a sound that resembles a hydraulic press,[23] and crowd cheering and applause that increase in volume as the lyrics are read with increasing ferocity. These combined effects make the song sound like a militant[24] German rant[25] or Nazi rally.[26] While the shocking, aggressive tone and "von Satan" in the title may suggest having to do with the Church of Satan the speaker is merely reciting an innocuous cookie recipe.[13][26] The band tried working titles like "The Final Recipe" (playing on Final Solution) and "Holocaust in 98", an allusion to the 1972 Genesis epic "Supper's Ready" containing the sections "Apocalypse in 98" and "As Sure As Eggs Is Eggs (Aching Men's Feet)".[citation needed] The song was originally translated by Gudrun Fox. According to Blair McKenzie Blake, the maintainer of the official Tool website, "Die Eier von Satan" originally were cookies that "Marko Fox's grandmother used to bake for him as a child, without using eggs as an ingredient. The substitution for eggs is a magical incantation from the worm-eaten pages of some moldering grimoire."[27] This magical incantation ("sim salabim bamba sala do saladim") is taken from the German children's song "Auf einem Baum ein Kuckuck saß" and popularized by Harry August Jansen.[28] According to the lyrics, the special ingredient besides this "incantation" is actually "a knife-tip of Turkishhashish". The title is a play on deviled eggs, translating to "The Eggs of Satan" in English[24] or "The Balls of Satan", due to a German double entendre of "Eier", which can either mean "eggs" or serve as slang for testicles. While there may not be eggs, "balls" do appear in the form of "ground nuts" (150 grams) while the dough itself is rolled into tiny balls before baking. So far the only time it has been performed live in its entirety was on December 19, 1996 at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles.[29] The track has been compared to the work of industrial and experimental artists such as Einstürzende Neubauten, Rammstein and Tom Waits.[13][23][30][31]

"Pushit" was titled as a single word not only to distinguish it from the 1987 Salt-n-Pepa song but to emphasize the ambiguity of the pronunciation in regard to the "s" word (push it on me/push shit on me). An alternate version of "Pushit" was performed live, including an Aloke Duttatabla solo, and appears on Salival.[32]

The song "Third Eye" contains samples of comedian Bill Hicks.[33] The title may be a reference to Hicks' assertions that psilocybe mushrooms could be used to "squeegee [one's] third eye clean."[34] A goal of the album as a whole was to "open people up in some way and help open their third eye and help them on a path."[35]

"Ænema" makes lyrical references to Bill Hicks' set Arizona Bay, in which the San Andreas fault collapses, purging the continent of Southern California and the Baja Peninsula which would give Arizona its own oceanfront. This is further illustrated in the lenticular map under the cd tray. "Ænema" is technically not the title track (the album title is spelled 1 letter differently) making this the first and only Tool album without such a track.

Many regional versions stated the track times for tracks 3 and 4 in reverse. This is noted on all pressings from Australia, UK, and Europe.

Alternate version of the Ænima artwork shows a dedication to comedian Bill Hicks as "another dead hero".

The packaging for Ænima was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Recording Package.[36] North American pressings of the album were packaged in a custom lenticularjewel case (called a "Multi-Image CD case" in the liner notes) for the cover and interior disc tray. The cover art and other images in the liner notes can be set behind the lenticular "lens" to create an effect of sequential animation. European pressings of the CD featured a standard case, and the insert contained the covers of fictional Tool releases.

A touched-up version of Cam de Leon's painting Ocular Orifice,[38] with the pupil of the eye animated to rotate completely around.

A photo of contortionist Alana Cain, legs wrapped behind head.[39] Shown sitting on a couch to the right are Danny Carey, Justin Chancellor, Adam Jones and Maynard James Keenan while Danny and Maynard are both nude covering themselves. Maynard stands up whilst covering himself and is shown throwing a single rose to the ground in front of the contortionist. Another photo of the contortionist is also on the disc itself.

An image of California before and after a major earthquake is shown in the tray behind where the disc lies – a reference to the song "Ænema" and the Arizona Bay sketch by Bill Hicks. The inlay image of the US incorrectly depicts Oklahoma's panhandle. It is unknown whether or not this was intentional.

Upon its release, the album was met with generally favourable reviews by mainstream music critics, citing the band's innovation and ambitions within the album's sound. Rob Theakston of AllMusic gave the album a positive review, stating that "Tool explore the progressive rock territory previously forged by such bands as King Crimson. However, Tool are conceptually innovative with every minute detail of their art, which sets them apart from most bands."[40] Jon Wiederhorn of Entertainment Weekly said that Ænima was "one of 1996's strangest and strongest alt-metal records", earning the album an A- score.[46] David Fricke gave the album 4.5 out of 5 stars on Rolling Stone, saying that the band shoves "their iron-spike riffing and shock-therapy polemics right up the claustrophobic dead end of so-called alternative metal in the name of a greater metaphysical glory", calling it "very admirable" and "even a bit impressive", going on to say that "the best parts of Ænima come when Tool just let the music rip".[44] The USA Today gave the album three stars out of a possible four, citing the album as Tool's best release, and that the combination of the band's sound combined with the vocal capabilities of frontman Maynard James Keenan creates an album that is "Pandora's toolbox". The review concludes with "Open at your own risk."[45] A review on Sputnik Music gave the album a 5 out of 5, with the reviewer claiming that the album has "got the most consistently brilliant set of songs (filler tracks aside) out of practically any album I can think of". The reviewer mentions that the album has a lot of filler tracks, but mentions that these "get incredibly annoying" at times, but that "the proper songs here are more than refined enough, and they're damn well good enough, to make up for this 'flaw.'"[47] Reviews posted on UG praised the album, citing strength in the album's sound and in particular its lyrics.[48] The webzine Metal Storm scored the album a 10, and gave it a positive review.

Not all reviews were totally positive. While the album managed to score a positive review in Rolling Stone, The Rolling Stone Album Guide was extremely critical of the album, citing its weaknesses especially when compared to the likes of the band's later releases. "With Aenima, the band's ambitions nearly get the best of them. The increasing density of their relentlessly downcast music, augmented by occasional electronic noises, begins to feel ponderous. "I've been wallowing in my own chaotic insecure delusions," Maynard James Keenan mutters, and the music indulges him. The claustrophobic production doesn't help."

The album appeared on several lists of the best albums of 1996,[6] including that of Kerrang![7] and Terrorizer.[8] The track "Ænema" won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 1998.[9] In 2003, Ænima was ranked the 6th most influential album of all time by Kerrang![10] In 2006, it placed 14th on a Guitar World readers poll that attempted to find the best 100 guitar albums.[51]

^ abDavid Andrews (October 25, 1996). "Tool's Ænima: More songs about paranoia and death". The Daily Collegian. Retrieved May 21, 2007. ...rhythms of "Die Eier Von Satan," which sounds like a hydraulic press. The song diverges briefly from the usual Tool sound, showing experimentation in an apparent homage to Einstürzende Neubauten, a German prototype to similarly revolutionary music.

^"Aenima: Tool" (fee required). What Magazine. November 1, 1996. Retrieved May 21, 2007. "Die Eier Von Satan" and is as hokee lokee as any Tom Waits or Einsterzende Neubaten tip of the ice pick could ever be.